The present invention relates to a golf ball and to a method for designing the golf ball. More specifically, the present invention relates to a golf ball including noncircular dimples, and to a method for designing the golf ball.
For the purpose of increasing the carry of a golf ball, the golf ball has been heretofore designed to include multiple recessed parts, or dimples, on the surface thereof, and to use these dimples to produce aerodynamic effects when the golf ball is flying after being hit by a golf club. A dimple is a recessed part of a golf ball having a spherical shape in general, and is shaped as if the part is formed by truncating the surface of the spherical shape. A single golf ball includes multiple dimples of one kind or multiple kinds, and the dimples are arranged in various patterns.
Among conventional dimples, the most frequently used one is a dimple having a circular border line, called a circular dimple. When only circular dimples are arranged on the surface of a golf ball, the surface would have regions unoccupied by any dimples. Accordingly, the unoccupied regions are occupied by dimples each having a noncircular border line, called noncircular dimples. It is commonly known that combining circular dimples and noncircular dimples increases the surface coverage of the golf ball with the parts in which dimples are formed, i.e., dimple coverage on the surface, to a maximum extent, and thereby contributes to the increase of the carry of the golf ball due to the aerodynamic effects. It is also known that aerodynamic effects on the dimples may vary depending on the shape of each recessed part, i.e., the shape of the bottom surface of each dimple, as well as the border shape of each dimple.